FF XIII-2 PS3 sells less than FF III on the Famicom

Two years ago, when FF XIII was finally released in Japan only for the PS3, we noticed that the game wasn't selling as well as the other entries in the series. Now, with the recent outing of FF XIII-2 and its 525 271 units sold, it seems like Square Enix is having some kind of a bad déjà vu...

[GribbleGrunger]

gas masks sell less now than they did in the war... the point being?

[NukaCola]

My god...is it that slow of a day? If you need content, we would like some Vita reviews.

[morganfell]

Anyone have the FF XIII-2 360 numbers?

[Rage_S90]

^^ Didn't chart.

[gaffyh]

@morganfell- basically, less than 25k, but we don't know the exact number.

[Biggest]

Are comparing life time sales of FF III to first week sales of FF XIII-2 in Japan? Is that what is happening here?

[Panthers]

Hopefully this will get Square to get their act together and make quality FF titles again. I am not even excited for them anymore. It used to be the highlight of my gaming career when one was released. Now its barely a blip.

[Denethor_II]

Extreme analogy, but I see your point.

[GribbleGrunger]

lol. yeah, it was kind of extreme

[RBLAZE1988]

Extreme? It didn't even make sense. FF3 didn't have any stipulations like a war that helped it sell neither did any other entries

[RBLAZE1988]

Firstly, that is the stupidest analogy I have ever heard. Secondly, as I have predicted in other news topics, square enix was playing a dangerous game ignoring long time fans and playing to the casual western fans and now they are going to pay for it. Selling 66% less than all the series initial launch weeks should be making them shit. Maybe they'll wake up and put versus13 into overdrive and stop listening to dollar signs and go back to there old style and pedigree for overall quality. It's gonna take a really good next entry to revitalize this slowly crumbling franchise.

[Diver]

Give this man a bubble.

[Gorkab]

The point being that the series is going down...

[haymoza]

God, I never thought I'd have to thank someone for pointing out the obvious, but I think it's necessary seeing how slow some people are at making the connection.

so, yeah, thank you.

[scrambles]

#13 was a terrible game that made me wanna break my disk but thankfully i rented it. 30 hours of running down 3 separate corridors with unlikable characters with a plot so bad i stopped caring and just wanted to return it to the store. I will definitely not be getting part 2 cuz part 1 was so terrible unless its something so spectacular that it makes me cry.

[Simon_Brezhnev]

I know right but if you say the plot is bad you get a ton of disagrees. There was only one character i liked Sazh and he was the only one with common sense. Hell Dragon Age 2 was superior to FF13 in all ways except graphics. LOL

[Optical_Matrix]

While I agree the plot and characters were bad, Final Fantasy XIII's only redeeming qualities for me were the graphics, and the Battle System which really shone through during the harder, optional boss battles post game. They really give a sense of what Square Enix was trying to achieve but them making the majority of the battle in the main quest winnable with Auto-Battle was ridiculous.

My two cents of it is, Final Fantasy XIII was a good game, I mean I've played much worse. But it was a terrible Final Fantasy game. It didn't even feel like one. XIII-2 looks set to change it so, and please don't shoot me people, I'll be buying it to give it one last chance. Can't give up so easily on one of the franchises I grew up on.

These sales figures indicate to me that Square Enix need to change. No one asked for XIII-2 so it's clearly a cash in. If they start listening to fans and make the games we want, aka, finish Versus XIII, make Kingdom Hearts 3, localize Type-0 and sprinkle in some new IP's that are actually good, they can make money. Meanwhile Wada continues to take charge in leading the company into the depths of despair. It's obvious he needs to be fired, so my question is, why hasn't he been?

[sirdrake]

wow every argument is the same. 3 corridors blah blah blah. No one cares if you didn't like the game. Got off of a FF article if you hate the game and don't want to buy it.

[adorie]

Sirdrake cares. :)

[Tommy334]

Gaming is dying only games that sell are shooters and casual games like just dance

[BDSE]

Dead Rising, Bayonetta, Dragon Age, Skyrim and Heavy Rain say hello.

[Alabaster]

Total War, The Sims and Need for Speed would like to talk to you....

[cyguration]

I think Star Wars: The Old Republic and Spyro would also like to have a private chat with you as well...if you have time. Seems to be a lot of other chatty types biding for your time.

[kane_1371]

Don't forget MR. Batman and Assassins.
oh yeah, Cole is floating this way too.
Oh hey, is that the Dragon from Skyrim or Dark Souls?

At the end, yes, it is true that the new generation that is playing Video games is more interested in casual shooter games or waggle your Wii mote/hand/Move kind of games.
But we are still receiving good games and sales altogether.
So, yeah.

[kevnb]

console gaming is casual, anything like dark souls is niche.

[BDSE]

FF XIII was a bit pants and so people are bound to stay away from the direct sequel. IMO

[Nodoze]

Simple fix for SquareEnix. FIRE WADA.

The man is only interested in money. He cares not for the fan base that has made SE what it is (or was).

The fans have lost faith and trust in your brand and what you are shoveling. That may NEVER be regained.

I also hear that they are working on FF13-3 (no I am not kidding).

[D3mons0ul]

How is the series "going down" when Versus is still in development and Type-0 actually did very well over in Japan and is slated for a US release early next year.

Those things a failing franchise does not make.

You would have been right if you had said "The point being that the Fabula Nova Crystalis is going down"

That's really the only part of FF that is suffering right now. 14 doesn't count because it's a fucking MMO.

[blumatt]

Agreed. I hope Versus 13 (PS3) fixes all that is wrong with the FF 13 series of games.

[Inception]

Is it true that Type-0 will be release for US early next year?
cause i never saw one official confirmation from SE...

[Clarence]

FF13 was garbage FF13-2 will be garbage.

FF series is needs a big overhaul. IMO it started going down after FF10. When Square started making part 2 of the game it fell off. I keep waiting on FF13vs but who knows when that will drop.

[WhiteLightning]

Well no offence it;s because it's a sequel to a crap game and the only people who are going to buy it are the minority of people who enjoyed the last game. All those people who got it last time and didn't like it aren't going to buy into it again........that would be silly.

If it was a brand new FF game like FF15 then fair enough

In these times....no one likes wasting money

[Bundi]

But somehow vsXIII will be awesome and everybody and their llamas will buy one right?
Exactly, all they have to do is rename it and boom, JRPG of the year if not GOTY. Unless of course it goes multiplat, then it is overrated junk.

[WhiteLightning]

Oh thats going to be amazing

As long as they rename it though and seperate it from FF13, I'll be good.

[ThanatosDMC]

My llama pre-ordered two copies.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

Is their any reason to NOT like versus 13 hmmm? From what they have shown and the details that they have revealed for versus I have little reason to hate or even be cautious about versus being a crap game. Until proven otherwise versus 13 looks like it will be a good game.

On the other hand I have a reason to hate FF13-2 and that reason being I hated 13. I hated FF13's battle system and 13-2's battle system is more or less the same.

You act like it's insanity for people to hate 13-2 but like versus lol while there are plenty of reasons to hate 13-2, but not enough reasons to hate versus.

[sirdrake]

@ outside_ofthe_box>

so you will hate a completely different game without playing it because you hated its prequel?

That is like saying you will automatically hate uncharted 2 because you hated uncharted 1. Wait i know, i will hate the new flavor of gatorade because i hated the last one. AND i will hate the new doritos chips cuz the last one sucked. WAIT WAIT i will hate the new BMW cuz i hated the last new one.....!!

In other words a stupid freaking reason.

and HOW CAN YOU HATE SOMETHING BEFORE YOU HAVE PLAYED IT!!! God people are retarded.

[DigitalRaptor]

@ Outside_ofthe_Box

The only reason to hate on Versus XIII is how goddamn long it's taking to come out.

[SnipeySnake]

@sirdrake
Well of course, you would obviously look up footage of the game you're interested in. They could have made a completely new game with a new battle system, story, everything, and rename it FFXIII-2 but that isn't the case is it? They kept the same battle system, added on the the story of the first one, and just tweaked a few things.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

@sirdrake

You misunderstood what I was saying.

I'm not saying that I automatically hate 13-2 because I hated 13. I'm saying that because I hated 13, 13-2 is already on a bad start in my book. And add to the fact that I have ALREADY SEEN FOOTAGE of 13-2, shows that I'm not hating 13-2 purely on disliking 13 alone. I have seen 13-2 gameplay and I am still unimpressed.

[DonaldBeck]

final fantasy sure isn't what it used to be imo.

[ZippyZapper]

Still pissed because it went multiplat?

[Silly gameAr]

Are you saying that Final Fantasy isn't the same since it went multiplat? Not sure why you brought it up since he didn't mention anything about FF being multiplat.

[ZippyZapper]

^^^ Search past FF articles or I could just show you my PM box. Look at the comment below for a good example.

[Snookies12]

Well yeah... I mean, if it had stayed an exclusive, Final Fantasy XIII would have been better, no doubt there. It was severely limited by the 360. They could have focused more development time on one platform and added actual freedom to the game, rather than trying to get it to work on a system that clearly wasn't right for them.
So yes, I am pissed it went multiplatform, I'm glad it was out there for more people to enjoy, but if it means sacrificing the game as a whole it was a stupid decision.

[-Alpha]

I dont think going multiplat mattered in the grand scheme of FFXIII

Sure, some PS3 fans blame it and claim the game would have been better, but I doubt that having it on PS3 would change anything drastically.

Flashy graphics, streamlined features, totally devoid of traditional RPG features. Square Enix aren't what they used to be. There is a common theme this generation of following a very generic cookie-cutter model where gameplay is largely sacrificed for graphics, production value, and performance.

[sirdrake]

@ Snookies.

How would it have been better if it was a PS3 exclusive? The story was the same. The characters would be the same. The battle system would be the same. The design would be the same. Pretty much everything except for the graphics would have been identical.

That is the ridiculous comment to say the least.

[DigitalRaptor]

The fact that the game went mutiplat is not as relevant a point right now, because most of us can admit the game was a poor iteration of the Final Fantasy franchise.

[stonecold3]

ffvs 13 will out sell ff13xiii2 and ff13 since its only on 1 console which is ps3 guranteed it will sell big time in japan ff13 andxiii2 will not even reach vs numbers in japan because most japanese gamers are waiting for ffvs 13 to come out

[Disccordia]

Lol that doesn't make sense. It's only on one console.. So it will sell more?

[Army_of_Darkness]

I am gonna laugh so hard that I might possibly piss my pants!!

[Megaman_nerd]

FF is the kind of franchise that gets crazy hype when it's on PS3 just like Metal Gear. I mean, didn't you felt how the hype train for FFXIII was slowly turning into hate when the game was announced for the Xbox? The same thing is happening with MGR right now if you haven't noticed it.

I firmly believe that FFvsXIII can sell more if it stays exclusive, or at least a secret timed exclusive to deceive the fanboys.

[Disccordia]

Well you're all bloody stupid if you'll only buy a game because it's exclusive. Sure, SE dropped the ball with FF13 but the game was poor because the development team had stupid ideas, not because it was also on the Xbox.

That's fine though - I guess all the people who disagreed haven't played Deus Ex, Skyrim, Dead Space 2, Portal 2, Batman AC, Battlefield 3, Dark Souls and all the other great multiplats because this year because they were all sat at home arguing on N4G about how brilliant Socom 4 and Medievil Moves were.

[AsunaYuukiTheFlash]

Dude i doubt that FFV13 will get a release date anytime soon. I just beat FF 13-2 today and I'm raging right now because it will get another sequel.

[Malice-Flare]

a case of the Japanese audience saying: "fool me once, shame on you. fool me... can't get fooled again..."

the Xbox 360 exclusive DLC doesn't help. S-E still trying to be Kingmaker for Xbox, when they need all the sales they can get in Japan...

[BDSE]

Yeah because a shitty bow would make a whole lot of difference to someones purchase decision. /sarcasm

[TruthBTold]

Considering how the economy is people can"t afford to throw money away on just any game, people are struggling to "put food on their family" :o)

[nolifeking]

What kinda family put's food on each other? Sounds a bit perverted.

[TruthBTold]

@nolifeking

I believe Rinkuchal was quoting George W Bush so I was just quoting another one of his great speaches lol

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[sashimi]

note that spinoff and sequels have usually sold less then those part of the main series.

[Game13a13y]

Final Fantasy, what have you become? the once mighty JRPG has fallen into shit....

[Staude]

Have anyone taken into concideration that you are comparing lifetime sales of all the other games, with week one sales of a spinoff to a main series game? The important part here is the fact that these are week one sales. You have no way to proper meassure the titles popularity unless you compare it to the other games week one sales. And even then, you would have to concider at what time each individual title was launched etc.

[haymoza]

that argument -that the game is a spinoff- is null and pathetic. FFX-2 sold 1.6m first week in Japan. Was that not a spin off?

Go take your double standards and gtfo

[Hicken]

And while people loved X, they hated X-2. EVERYBODY was hyped for X-2 when it came out. The same can't be said for XIII-2, so the situation isn't the same.

Not only did XIII not sell like X, but the atmosphere around the two games is different. Similarly, the atmosphere around there sequels is drastically different, so saying they're comparable is silly.

Staude has the right idea: you'd have to measure the sales of the other games based on the first week, AND you have to take into consideration a lot more, like the fact that people are, say holding out for the HD remake of X, or holding out for VsXIII. AND that people don't have as much expendable income now as they did then, in general. Between economic downturns and natural disasters, people haven't had the money to spend on XIII-2 that they would have had to spend on previous games.

Then there's the fact that XIII-2 is leftover content from XIII as opposed to a truly separate game. And so on and so forth.

Don't go pretending the two games are in the same situation simply because they're both spinoffs. There's a lot more going on than that, not the least of which is the negative stigma XIII-2 carries simply by being XIII's sequel; even if it's a better game, a lot of close-minded idiots are going to avoid it because "XIII sucked."

[haymoza]

and with that big post you proved the point that XIII-2 sales reflect just how disappointed gamer were and still are with FFXIII.

You can make silly reasons for the bad sales ...people holding out for X remake lol, or FFVSXIII ... PEOPLE BEEN WAITIN FOR THAT GAME FOR ALMOST 6 YEARS NOW! Now it effects sales of other games suddenly? People are really desperate to defend SE. Face the music, SE is going nowhere but down from here on. Xillia sold more than this first week.

What's next, you gonna blame the earthquake/tsunami?

[Hicken]

"I'll pass and get VsXIII."

Guess you've never seen anybody say that.

And yes, I blame the tsunami/quake. Not JUST for lower sales of XIII-2; I think sales for ALL games and systems have suffered in Japan because of it.

And the rest of my points still stand: XIII-2 is not in the same situation as X-2 was, so while you CAN compare them, it helps to actually put the circumstances in perspective.

[kane_1371]

It is week one sales, didn't you read the chart?

[gigreen]

XIII went linear for the 360 because the system doesn't have the processing power to render towns. So gamers know what to expect by now. SE can't really expect the same sales they would get from a true next gen FF.

It's the same with Alan Wake, announced as a huge open world PC game, ended on the 360 as an on-rails shooter.

[Megaman_nerd]

the funny thing about it is how many people are trashing the game on 2CH forums yet they bought almost half a million anyway. ;)

Here are some translated comments by Sankaku from a 2CH thread talking about XIII-2:

“Bloody hell, FF can’t even outsell Tales now!”

“So the brand has finally collapsed. I suppose it was to be expected, they’ve just gotten too bad.”

“Everyone will wait for the second-hand copies. They’ve learnt their lesson from the first one.”

“Considering how bad it is I think FF13-2 did well to sell what it did.”

“Maybe now that awful company will realise how bad a fix it is in.”

“Tales is now the leading JRPG!”

[Agent_hitman]

This should be the wake up call for SE, to change their strategy for future FF franchises!.. The past series they've released FF14 and this one FF13-2 is selling less that it's predecessors.. It is very alarming indeed..

If this continue, next thing you'll now this franchise will end up like Duke nukem Forever!!

[Nodoze]

If SquareEnix is not awake by now, there is no hope for them.

FF13 was utter garbage and alienated fans. You can now find it on the bargain shelf for next to nothing, yet it still is not selling.

FF14 was even worse. Fans were outraged and the company was forced to offer refunds and then change the model to make it FREE because it was so bad.

FF13-2 - Clearly a cash in from the left over content that would not fit in the original release due to the dual platform move. Quicktime events!? Seriously SE?

FF13-3 - They have applied for this trademark. Let's hope it does not see the light of day.

FFVS13 - Sadly, I do not think this title will ever see be released. Because it is not dual platform and Wada has a hard on for the 360.

Simple fix for SE = FIRE WADA! The man is incompetent and has destroyed the brand and is working on bringing down the company.

[Kamikaze135]

*waits for SE to blame fans*

Seriously though, if the series was doing well, why chance it so much and expect people to support it? XIII took away everything that made FF and tried to modernize it into the garbage people complain about. I liked it, but there was just so much missing. XIV launched horribly, though it's a decent game now.

It seems like SE knows they tarnished the Final Fantasy name and are trying to repair it. However, they can't expect people to buy a sequel to a game that let them down. Although it's a great sequel, I'm sure a lot of people are staying away from it because of how much they disliked XIII.

[neversawthestars]

At least the square ff team takes risks. At least for the last 7 games ff has gone thru different worlds, stories, battle systems and gorgeous visuals. They don't rush the market as a general rule and have some of the most memorable cast of characters and music. I'm really not seeing the problem. Especially when the best selling NA game has been playing some of the same maps with the same engine year after year with a different spin how its the best of its genre for being innovative. not everything has to be a vs b or is this genre/company dead in this industry.

[Edito]

Ironubo Sakaguchi is there anymore to write good stories, Nobuo Uematsu is not there to produce the amazing soundtrack we're used to here in FF games sou the atmosphere of the game is gone with him, they dumb the game down for the 360 combine all that and everybody will be excited for the Last Story Ironubo Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu the makers of FF we used to love Tetsuya Nomura should live Square Enix and Join MistWalker or level 5... Im Glad SE is paying for what they have done to gamers this gen...

[Spenok]

The only problem with what you said is about Nobuo Uematsu. He composed the entire soundtrack for FFXIV.

[Edito]

Really??? Damn a didn't knew that lol maybe it's the only good thing about FF XIV this is sou sad i used to dream with FF and now it just a piece of garbage... :-(

[Parapraxis]

VGcharts numbers... anything up to the last 2-3 years is rubbish, and even still, their more current numbers are often wrong, there is no information in the article for the listed sales time frame.
I'm damn sure FFIII has sold more than 619 491 copies, and i'm also damn sure using VGchartz as a source for sales is really shitty idea.
I'll take the media create numbers as being somewhat reliable, but whatever number is quoted for FFVIII and earlier (from VGC) is probably only known by Square-Enix, and nobody else.

[HaHa_Ostrich]

If XIII-2 turns out great, than hell Ill buy XIII as well!

[gypsygib]

I liked FF13 but I'm sick of Lightning the lack of a strong villain.

I don't want to play as an overly skinny, unattractive, insipid, pink haired girl with no sense of humour, or emotional depth.

In fact, the entire FF13 cast was lacking IMO.

The best villains are the ones that start off good then fall to the dark side by doing something terrible to the most loved protagonist.

[BigDollarZoe954]

Dont care much about the sale numbers as long as i enjoy the game i could care less Square Enix can't please everyone these days still a supporter what comes behind that haters

[Pyscho_Mantis]

The point is that this guy has figures provided by VGChartz lol

What a fail...you cannot take this article seriously

[yogaflame]

Multiplatform FF killed the quality of the game and since most of there great developers and designers are gone, FF is dead. Thank you MS for killing the quality of FF

[D3mons0ul]

FF isn't dead, wait for Versus and Type-0

[trenso1]

Wait for type-0 to be localized it's a great game so far in terms of gameplay. I can't understand Japanese so the story i can't comment on

[josephayal]

Of course it has lost it's touch

[GraveLord]

A sequel to the most hated Final Fantasy ever? How can sales possibly be this low!? Is it a coincidence that now that Final Fantasy is on Xbox 360 the quality is suffering? Final Fantasy games always used to be exclusive to Sony consoles. Microsoft is ruining the franchise. Versus XIII is our only hope.

[D3mons0ul]

This is more than likely a case of the Japanese saying "fool me once, etc"

...rather than an indication of the game being bad.

[MizTv]

dont know what to think about this game. will i get it i just dont know

[Tuxedo_Mask]

FFIII is a great game, so great I bought a Famicom copy and a copy of Hogan's Alley with a converter inside just so I could play it in it's original format. It's a classic game, comparing it to any RPG from today isn't fair to the game made today or FFIII because they both have/had to meet different standards.

[Tzuno]

Ok the series are going down no wonder the sales number.

[Tigerfist]

I'm not surprised.

[Xenoflare]

What SE should do is fire Toriyama, he is the guy who believed extreme linearity= immersive plot and good plot=plot twists that is just trolling to the players

[Kratos_GodOfWar]

yessss ff is flopping hard nobody care for this. skyrim is the king of rpg

[Knightofelemia]

SquareEnix should have just skipped the sequal to FF13 and released FFVS13 then go back to making FF13-2.

[DC1980]

They actually released the 360 version in Japan?

Wada you fool, don't you realize that the 360 is dying in Japan?

[kevnb]

xiii was terrible, thats why. Also take note that xiii is proof of how meaningless reviews are, most reviews gave it like an 8.5/10 when it was just a terrible game.

[iliimaster]

final fantasy blows i enjoy the hell out of 1-10x2 but after that in a nut shell square enix was born and squaresoft was dead never had a chance they could of easily made traditional final fantasy games and then in between those titles that would guarantee millions of sales make the shooter type fast pace walk in a straight line crap they are putting out now but they totally stopped doing what even allowed them to make a part TWO! they keep crying about how long a remake of 7 would take and cost well it looks like a complete remake will be the only thing that can make any money

[danthebios]

i think its time for mr. Hironobu Sakaguchi to come back or work on the next FF.